Chance to learn
by Laurissy
Summary: So a little one shot where the Doctor Jamie and Zoe must endure one of the most hellish places in earth, worst than skaro, worst than Androzani worse than Telos. A Nightclub. The horror. Seriously though I wanted to explore Zoe's character and what she gets out of travelling with the Doctor. So I hope you have fun and please review


The chance to learn

**A/N So I'm back writing doctor who one shots. God I love writing these and I hope you guys enjoy reading them. So here we have something cute and fluffy with Jamie and Zoe. God I love Jamie he's just so damn adorable. So anyway I hate clubbing and I thought it would be a funny idea to put Jamie and Zoe into that situation. I also love the idea of someone beating the louts you see at clubs.**

Jamie felt completely out of his depth. This was not an uncommon feeling for the young Scotsman. Travelling with a strange man in a blue box, fighting of beasties. He had long come to accept that he would never understand his life. He loved it but he knew he'd never truly understand. However the young madam next to him didn't seem to understand that.

"Where are we!?" Zoe asked impatiently. There was music, although she thought the word music was quite charitable. Whatever it was, it was far too loud. There were strange coloured lights that seemed to move around the room. At first she thought they might be scanners or even weapons but they appeared to be normal lights. There were people all around them, dancing to the music. The term dancing also felt charitable, these people were packed in like sardines so there was no real space to move. She could smell sweat, alcohol and human vomit all around her. She'd wanted to explore the universe but she felt that this particular portion of the universe she could happily skip.

"Can we go Jamie?" she asked shouting into his ear.

"I'm sorry I cannnae hear you" he shouted. The music seemed to be invading his head and turning it into mush. The beat of the music wouldn't stop. It just went thud, thud, and thud seemingly forever. Just as he thought one song would end and he could have a moment's silence, another song started with no gap to give his bleeding ears a break. He bought his hands to his ears to see if they were actually bleeding. They weren't but it wasn't much of a comfort. "We cannnae go till we've found the doctor."

Zoe shook him frustration "Are you sure he went in here?" she screamed into his ear.

He's heard her that time but her voice was so loud that his ears started to ring. Jamie thought "We've managed to find the one place in the universe where her big mouth might be helpful." He shouted in her ear "We need to find the doctor, you go that way and I'll go this way." He screamed. Zoe thought about replying but instead she just nodded and rushed in the direction he pointed.

"Doctor!" she shouted "Doctor!" She walked into the throng of people, getting bashed everywhere she went. An elbow jammed into her ribs. "Watch where you're going" she said prudishly but the person just moved away from her not even bothering to apologise. The cheek of it, hitting someone and then just walking off, it was downright insensitive. She started to scream "Doctor!Doctor! Where are you?!." Despair started to take over what if she never found him. She felt helpless. She always thought it was silly being helpless. If you were smart enough you could successfully manage any situation that was what she learnt at school. Until the Tardis she believed she'd never ever have to be helpless. Yet here she was in the middle of a strange alien place and she was helpless. She couldn't find the Doctor with all these people everywhere. She just didn't know what to do and she hated that feeling. "Well at least it can't get worse" she thought sullenly.

"Hey love" a man slurred drunkenly. He took her in his arms before she could stop him. He was a lot bigger than she was, his arms felt like a vice as they squeezed around her. He kept dancing holding her close. Zoe slapped him across the face. "You will kindly stop holding me and leave me alone."

"What the hell, love" he asked, his arms flailing, his legs wobbled as he struggled to keep balanced. "You come here in that tight cat suit and you expect me to leave you alone, I'm only a man."

He lunged towards her but she managed to step back unfortunately there was a wall of bodies behind her seemingly oblivious to what was going on. So he managed to grab her fairly easy, squeezing her breasts so tightly, that it hurt quite badly. She saw he had friends and she saw they were giggling.

"Oi Ross, let me have a go with her, I'll sort her out." A pig headed lout said.

"You will not sort me out." Zoe said defiantly, "You will leave me alone and let me find my friend."

"You don't need your friend you've got us, we'll take care of you" the pigheaded one said thuggishly.

She looked him in his eyes full of defiance "I don't need your help now will you please kindly let me go."

"What a little bitch, dressing up like that and then just walking off, who do you think you are?" Ross asked grabbing her face.

"Yeah what a bitch" Pig face agreed.

"We should teach her lesson" Ross said leering at her.

"Believe me there is nothing I could learn from a thug like you." Zoe punched pig face in his stomach and he was keeled over, winded from the punch. Ross was distracted so she kicked him the face, and this sent him careening into the crowd and the crowd seemed to finally react to something that wasn't the music. Pig face and Ross had been dispatched but his friends looked at her, they knew they couldn't say they'd been scared off by a girl. Besides she started it.

Jamie looked down from a balcony. As he'd been exploring this club, he'd been assaulted by thee barely conscious drunken lasses. He'd easily avoided them but it was still quite scary more scary than he was willing to admit. He saw Zoe surrounded by some men who didn't look very nice. He jumped down from the balcony and grabbed one of the men assaulting Zoe and pushed him into a big black box. Mercifully it seemed to be where the sound had come from so the music quietened. He sighed with quiet relief unfortunately this gave a chance for one of these thugs to punch him in the nose. "Craeg en tuic" he shouted as he punched him back.

"What's going on here?" a group of men in yellow shirts came up to them.

The men who had been harassing Zoe seemed to relent putting their hands down. Jamie thought it only proper to do the same. He immediately went to Zoe who had a cut lip but she seemed fine. He went over her wanting to get a better look but she turned her head away.

"Look all of you out" one of the guys in the yellow shirts said. Jamie was about to disagree but they didn't look like the kind of fellas you disagreed with so with some reluctance and great relief. They left the club.

The cold air was a welcome balm to their hot skin. He went over to Zoe again trying to get a look at her. She stepped back.

"What are you doing, you silly girl, I'm trying to help you." Jamie said irritated at her.

Zoe looked at him with venom in her eyes "What would I need your help for, you're just a savage" she said venomously.

"Look Missy we're going to be travelling together which means you let me help you when you need it" Jamie said.

"I have medicine on the Tardis I'll be fine in a second," she said.

"That may be but I still want to have a look at you, to make sure you're ok, I've been in a lot more fights than you have." Jamie said with a tone that conveyed experience and since Zoe couldn't think of a logical reason to repute what he'd said so she let him look at her. The wound wasn't as bad as it appeared, she just needed some ice. It didn't look like there was any around here. He sighed.

"You just need something cold" he said knowingly.

"Oh" she said "like this" she took out a small rubber pouch from her cat suit and Jamie heard a click. The rubber pouch was now ice cold. She held it to her lip.

"Looks like you need one for your nose" she said concerned. She grabbed another one and gave it to him.

"Thanks" he said curtly. Holding it on his nose, the cold spreading through his skin.

"So we still don't know where the Doctor is." Zoe said annoyed.

"He'll show up" Jamie said confidently.

"He isn't very reliable, is he?" Zoe said annoyed at herself for agreeing to come along.

"No but he is a lot of fun and he's never let me down." Jamie said smiling "But don't let him know I said that."

She smiled sadly she thought of her life back home and how she missed it so. She missed the certainty, feeling sure of herself, being little miss know it all if she was totally honest. The Doctor just whisked them around and even though she was often amazed she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. She'd never felt overwhelmed before, she was good at everything, her mind was the best in a generation, she was physically fit. But she'd just been scared of three drunken louts in a club. She started to cry.

"Come here lassie" he hugged her gently.

"I don't think I can do this Jamie" she sobbed "It's just too much."

"What are you talking about you're the smartest lassie I know."

"It's not about that, it's everything" she said crying louder.

"But you're great Zoe" he said honestly "You're the only one I've ever met who can keep up with what the doctor is saying, you took down those louts in there, and you always have something up your sleeve." He shook his rubber pouch.

"Do you really think that?" she asked. "I thought you didn't like me."

"No, you're annoying but you're also brilliant" Jamie said "You beat the doctor at his own game, to me that's amazing, Do you remember when you fixed that light on top the console."

"The drift compensator" she said "There was an elementary error in how it was fitted; any first grade mechanic could have repaired it."

"Well he'd been trying for years to fix it." Jamie told her.

"Really" she said smug. He could almost feel her head expanding.

Jamie sighed "Don't let it go to your head though."

"I won't" she lied.

Jamie was about to challenge her when he heard a familiar voice "Oh my giddy aunt."

"Doctor" they shouted and ran over to him, hugging him.

"Jamie, Zoe" he hugged them back. "I'm glad to see you're all right."

"No thanks to you we came in after you" Jamie said angrily stopping the hug.

"I'm sorry Jamie I got a bit lost I was using my sonic screwdriver to find some mercury" He held up a thermometer, "I've got some now."

Jamie couldn't stay mad at the Doctor "It isn't the first time you've gotten lost." He said patting him on the back.

"That's true Jamie" the Doctor admitted.

Zoe looked a little sad and Jamie gave the Doctor a talk to her signal. "Jamie, why are you pointing at your mouth?"

Jamie face palmed "Look I'm going ahead to the Tardis." He said bluntly and then he set of running.

"Are you all right, my dear?" the Doctor said the lines on his face filled with concern.

Zoe shook her head "I don't know Doctor, I like travelling with you but I've never liked it when I didn't know something and with you that happens every minute. Jamie seems fine with it but I've always needed to know."

He looked at Zoe directly into her eyes "I can't promise knowledge and certainty, it's not how I live but I can promise you something Zoë?"

"What?" she asked.

"The chance to learn" he replied and they both smiled. The Doctor smiled down at his young friend "Besides if you keep travelling with me, you may one day become as smart as me."

"I already am" she said "How else can you explain me fixing the drift compensator." She smiled smugly and walked happily of to the Tardis. The Doctor sighed that girl was a handful.

**A/N This was a lot of fun exploring Zoe's character and what makes her tick. Also there's some wish fulfilment here god I wish I could beat up sexist pigs the way Zoe does. But I'll try not to rant. Yeah so I guess I wanted to explore what Zoe gets out of travelling with the Doctor and how it can be hard for her. I think on the show can come across as a bit invulnerable and I wanted to add some layers to her. Also I do love writing the second Doctor and Jamie, I really should write other doctors more. But the second doctor keeps pulling me back.**


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